Skilled dentistry education buoyed by local advantages

As higher education continues to transform globally in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading academic destinations, including those in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Europe, have faced declining international enrolment and structural pressures that challenge traditional teaching models.

- JUTAMAS TADTHIEMROM

Visiting Professor Dr Nikos Mattheos

While many institutions grapple with these disruptions, Thailand is steadily positioning itself as a promising regional hub for advanced dentistry education.

At the Faculty of Dentistry at Chulalongkorn University, one of Thailand’s foremost dental institutions, shifts in academic strategy and clinical training have strengthened its competitiveness at a time when Western programmes are undergoing major recalibration.

Dr Nikos Mattheos, an internationally recognised dentist and educator who joined the faculty as a visiting professor, observed that a notable global trend has been the reduction of hands-on clinical exposure in favour of new technologies such as robotics and AI.

“Technology is essential, but clinical competence remains the foundation of dentistry,’ Dr Mattheos said.

“Students must learn to operate independently before relying on digital tools. That balance is increasingly difficult to maintain in some Western programmes.”